10/21/16: Driving Back to Burlington

I set the alarm for 7 but didn’t hear it so we got up a bit past 8. We got our stuff ready to go and then packed the car and dropped they key off at the desk & we were off. It was drizzly in Bar Harbor and our plan was to drive down the 1 to Portland, hit Allagash Brewery there and then hit the interstates for the rest of the drive to Burlington. We grabbed breakfast at a Denny’s a few miles away from the hotel and it was a giant step down from the other spots we got breakfast on the trip. Not because it was a Denny’s since they are usually decent but this one sucked. My over hard eggs were runny & everything was cold. Coffee was ok though. After we ate we found the 1 and we were off.

The road out of town on the 1 was a two lane road but there wasn’t much traffic so it was a nice drive With great scenery and occasional views of the coast. We also crossed many rivers which we saw empty into the ocean as well as many lakes. I could find lots to do out here. We stopped to check out Camden, ME about 1.5 hours into the drive since it was supposed to be a nice Maine town and it was. It was small but scenic and it had a nice harbor to walk around. We grabbed a beer at the Good Dog Brewing Company mainly to use their bathrooms but the pumpkin ale I got was good. We checked out some nice homes along the 1 that had really nice trees that were turning color out in front of them. After an hour or so we hit the road again and took the 1 most of the way into Portland but did turn off onto the 95 & other highways in Ryder to route ourselves to the Allagash Brewery. We ended up on some toll highways in order to get there but it was only $1 so no big deal.

“Downtown” Camden, ME.

The Camden harbor.

Nice fall colors in Camden.

Once at Allagash we found that it was in the suburbs so not really in Portland itself. The brewery was fairly small but had a nice tasting room and they gave you a token as you entered which allowed you to get a taster set of four beers which was very generous. It was pretty busy as well so they gave away a lot of free beer while we were there. We shared a table with a couple from Waterbury, VT who said they lived about a mile from the Ben & Jerry’s factory there. He works in the beer industry in some fashion so maybe he was doing some reconnaissance on the brewery. We each finished our tasters & both liked all of the beers we had. On the way out we picked up a hat & t-shirt to kick back for the free beer and then it was off to grab a late lunch before getting back on the road to Burlington. We ate at a Pho place near the brewery and it was very good. We each got the rare steak soup and I had to get an Allagash White Ale since they had it on tap. Once done with lunch we hit the road and had no stops planned before Burlington.

The Allagash brewery in Portland, ME.

The crowd at the Allagash brewery in Portland, ME.

East coast Pho.

We took the major highways the rest of the way with some toll roads included. At a couple we seemed to hit lanes that routed us through without paying. At one I saw a light flashing so I’m wondering if we had our picture taken skating through without paying and our rental car Company will get a ticket. We’ll see if I get charged for that. It started raining pretty heavily soon after Portland and didn’t let up until Burlington. The highways didn’t have reflectors on their lane stripes so it was pretty hard to determine where to drive with the rain coming down so hard. We got some fog as well as lightning to add to the fun. We stopped for gas once and got into Burlington about 10:00. We filled up the car near the hotel so we would not need to do it in the morning and then checked into the hotel and got our bags ready to go for the flight home. I packed so that all I would need to carry on the plane was my day pack. We ended up skipping dinner and just ate some bars we had brought. Our flight leaves at 5:40 so we set the alarm for 4 which will give us enough time to return the car & check our bag.